Relieve Muscle Soreness

Muslce Soreness After A Workout? Try some of these!

1. Static Stretching.

Focus on slow and gradual stretching. Stretch each muscle just to where you begin to feel the stretch then hold that position until you feel the muscle let go. Do not bounce or force the muscle unless you want to create more harm than good.

2. Light Exercise.

Muscles that are not used will become stiff and take longer to become pain free. Gentle, non-stressful exercise will increase the circulation and relax your muscles.

3. Massage.

Good old fashioned massage acts much like light exercise or gentle stretching by increasing your circulation and coaxing the muscles to relax. The differences are that with massage you need do nothing other than simply enjoy, and the massage therapist can locate and work with those areas of your musculature most in need of attention.

4. Cold.

Cold water or ice breaks the pain/ischemia/spasm cycle by increasing the circulation and interfering with pain signals. Ice is also an excellent anti-inflammatory agent and will greatly speed healing. I run my muscles under cold water for 3-10 minutes after a workout.

5. Alternating Hot and Cold.

Since the thought of hot often seems more soothing it is included here, but in combination with cold. Hot water will relax muscles and increase circulation but will also increase inflammation and swelling within muscle fibers. Therefore it is important to alternate with cold and end with cold. This can take the form of a sauna and swim, a whirlpool and cold plunge, a hot and cold shower or a hot bath and ice. After 3-10 minutes of cold, run the hot shower on your legs for 1 minute. And than repeat a few times.

6. Movement In The Pool.

Water supports your muscles and makes them easier to use. If you are extremely sore it will be easier for you to use your muscles in the pool either walking, stretching, or gently swimming.

No more soreness? Get continue to get our butts working!

Empowering Quotes

"Destiny is not a matter of chance, it is a matter of choice; it is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved."- William Jennings Bryan

"Everyone who has ever taken a shower has had an idea. It's the person who gets out of the shower, dries off, and does something about it that makes a difference."- Nolan Bushnell

"Being defeated is only a temporary condition; giving up is what makes it permanent."- Marilyn vos Savant

"Don't fear failure so much that you refuse to try new things. The saddest summary of a life contains three descriptions: could have, might have, and should have."- Louis E. Boone

Chilli - A Common food that boosts your metabolism‏

An Article by Mike Geary, TruthAboutAbs.com

**How Your Spice Cabinet Can Boost Your Metabolism**

I've written before about the power of certain herbs and spices in terms of antioxidant capacity and other health benefits. If you remember, I wrote a couple months ago about the super-food status of cinnamon and how powerful a health food (or rather spice) that it can be.

The next super-spice -- Chili!

I was just reading about a recent Australian study that documented how you can burn more calories, increase your metabolism slightly, and help control your blood sugar and insulin levels by including chili peppers and chili spice (or cayenne) in your foods.

Keep in mind, this may be a minor "detail", but when you add up a lot of these types of "details", you can make significant changes to your body over time. As you've probably heard in the past, the active ingredient in chili pepper (capsaicin) can cause slight increases in your metabolic rate and calorie burning from a meal.

This has been reported many times in both animal and human studies. However, in this Australian study, Madeleine J. Ball, MD, one of the researchers from the study, sought to find out how chili pepper affected blood sugar and insulin response after a meal. As you know, chronically high insulin levels in your body can not only cause deposition of excess body fat, but also can lead to diseases such as heart disease and diabetes.

The study was split into groups of subjects that ate meals without chili spice, and other groups of subjects that ate meals with chili pepper. As it turned out, the chili pepper eating groups had lower insulin levels and more stable blood sugar after the meals than the groups that ate the same food without chile.

According to Dr. Ball, "the chili is probably having some effect on the ability of the body to clear -- or remove -- insulin from the bloodstream". Aside from the temporary calorie burning boost and insulin controlling response, apparently chili pepper also has significant antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties...

So if you can handle a bit of spicyness, go ahead and enjoy adding some extra cayenne or chili pepper to your pot of meat & bean chili, your morning eggs, meat dishes, and other meals, knowing it's possibly giving you a slight edge in the fat burning department. One of my favorite meals that I've been eating a lot of lately is my home-made chili. I make big batches of it, and that leaves leftovers for quick and healthy meals whenever you need them.

The Knee-In Exercise

The Knee-In Exercise
Area Targeted = Lower Abs

The knee in exercise develops, strengthens, and defines the lower abdominal area. It also includes the upper abdominal area and the external obliques as well.
How to position yourself for knee ins
Lie flat on your back, with your legs extended straight out. Place your hands beneath your buttocks so your sitting bones are resting on top of your thumbs.
Keeping your feet together, lift your legs and feet three to six inches off the ground.

How to perform knee ins

Take a deep breath in and focus your attention on your lower abdominal muscles.
Breathe out and flex your lower abdominal muscles while pulling your knees in toward your chest. You'll want to try to bring your knees in to a ninety degree angle if possible.
Once you've reached your peak, squeeze out all the air from your lungs by flexing your lower abdominal muscles as hard as you can for one to two seconds.
Keeping the tension on your lower abdominal muscles, take a deep breath in and begin to extend your legs out toward the floor until they are three to six inches from the ground again.
Keeping your feet from touching the floor, take another deep breath in and repeat the movement until you have completed your set.

What your knee ins should look like

Things to remember when doing knee ins

Don't allow yourself to rock back and forth. Rocking reduces the effectiveness of the exercise and could lead to injury. Take your time with this exercise and keep your body steady and controlled.
Picture any fat you may have melting away from your lower abdominal area and hard, well-defined muscles replacing any fat that was once there.
Don't let your feet touch the ground and try to keep your knees and feet together.
Keep your mind focused on developing your lower abdominal muscles, and visualize your lower abs looking exactly the way you want them to eventually look throughout the entire exercise.
Remember to breath naturally with each repetition.
If you would like a little bit more of a challenge you can bring your knees in closer to your chest if you'd like, but try not to lift your lower back off the ground.

The Leg Raise Exercise

The Leg Raise Exercise
Area Targeted = Lower Abs

The leg raise exercise develops, strengthens, and defines the lower abdominal area. It also contributes to strengthening the upper abdominal area as well.
If you cannot do leg raises, replace with an alternative, ie. the knee-in exercise.
How to position yourself for leg raises
Lie flat on your back and let your upper body relax before doing your leg raises.
Place your hands beneath your buttocks, lining up each of your thumbs under your sitting bones to help support your back.
Lift your feet about three to six inches off the ground while keeping them together.

How to perform leg raises

Taking a deep breath in, focus your mind on your lower abdominal area. With your focus set, contract your lower abs and breathe out as you begin to lift your legs further from the floor.
Keeping your abs tight, continue to raise your legs until they are pointing straight up into the air -- perpendicular to the floor -- making use of every last ounce of air all the way up.
Once you've reached your peak and your legs are perpendicular to the floor, give your lower abdominal area an extra squeeze for one second.
Breathe in and begin to lower your legs back towards the floor without letting them touch the ground while keeping your lower abs contracted all the way back down.
Once your feet are approximately three to six inches off the floor, repeat the exercise and finish your set.

What your leg raises should look like

Things to remember when doing leg raises

Make sure you are supporting your back with your hands and are on a comfortable surface to help prevent injury. Remember to keep your upper body relaxed throughout the entire exercise.
Bring your legs as high up as you can, and give your abs a good squeeze once you've reached your peak. Remember to keep your feet together and off the ground until you've completed the entire set.
Try not to make your movements too fast or jerky. A slower pace will do better for this exercise.

The Abdominal Crunch Exercise

The Abdominal Crunch Exercise
Area Targeted = Upper Abs

The crunch develops, strengthens, and defines the upper abdominal area. The lower abdominal area is only slightly affected by this movement.

How to position yourself for an abdominal crunch

Lie flat on your back and bend your knees so your feet are close to your buttocks.
Your knees should be pointing towards the ceiling and your feet should be flat on the floor with your feet together.
Place your hands behind your head or beside your ears to support and guide your head and neck during the exercise.

How to perform the abdominal crunch

Begin by taking a deep breath in and focusing on your upper abdominal area.
On your exhale, flex your upper abdominal muscles as hard as possible and slowly raise your shoulders off of the floor in a curling movement until your shoulders are completely off the ground.
Take another deep breath in and slowly begin to lower yourself back down to the ground while keeping your upper abdominal muscles tight.
Once you've come back to the starting position, relax your upper abdominal muscles for one second and repeat the movement again until you have completed your set.

What your crunch should look like

Things to remember when doing crunches

Do not use your arms to pull up or lift your head. Your arms should only be used to support your head and neck during this exercise.
Lift from the chest area; do not pull on your neck.
As you work, imagine your belly button pressing down through your body into the floor.You only want to be lifting your shoulders and upper back off the group, not your whole body.
Do not bounce or try to come off the floor too quickly. Bouncing, jerking, rushing or lurching off the floor can lead to injury. Always use slow, controlled movements and remember to breathe with the movement.

How To Bulk Up Fast - Without Getting Fat

Recently, i burned slightly too much and fet that the protein intake is rather low. Without having enough calories intake, the muscles will not grow.

As such, it is important to take in more healthy calories..


From Vince Del Monte, here is what he will advice,

"Here is the strategy I used to ingest an extra 1000-2000 calories per day.

Get a pen and paper:
-> Three-four large 1 L water bottles
-> A blender
-> Couple bags of frozen berries from Costco
-> A tub of natural peanut butter
-> A tub of protein powder
-> A few bags of low fat milk
-> 10 minutes of your day

No, you are not mixing all these ingredients exactly but you can mix the following:

*** 1-3 cups of low fat milk - 300 calories
*** 1-2 cups of mixed berries - 200 calories
*** 40-60 grams of protein powder - 160-240 calories
*** 1-2 tbsp of natural peanut butter - 200 calories

As you can see, this adds up quickly to over 800 clean calories and they are all healthy foods. You will notice that these shakes have no junk sugars and no 'bad' fats. So for all those whiners who complain that they can't get enough food each day - throw that excuse out the window. You now have a solution. If calorie counting is not your thing then simply monitor the number of cups, scoops and tbsps. I suggest starting with portion sizes of 1 for everything. While the 40-60 grams of protein is always consistent i.e. 1 cup, 1 scoop and 1 tbsp of the above ingredients and then build to two and three where recommended.